Sunday August 20, 2017

The presentation reviews Shoghi Effendi’s early life, His relationship to `Abdu’l-Bahá, the three charters of the Faith that gave him the mandates for his ministry—the Tablet of Carmel, the Will and Testament of `Abdu’l-Bahá, and the Tablets of the Divine Plan—and the resulting five priorities for Shoghi Effendi’s work: establishing the Bahá’í Administrative Order, interpreting and explaining the writings of Bahá’u’lláh and `Abdu’l-Bahá, translating those writings into clear and definitive English, creating the institutions and buildings of the Bahá’í World Centre, and systematically expanding the Bahá’í Faith to the entire world. The presentation closes with a discussion of the crises during the interregnum and the election of the Universal House of Justice.

Robert Stockman, Director of the Wilmette Institute, has a doctorate in religious studies from Harvard University (1990) and is adjunct faculty in religious studies at Indiana University South Bend. He is the author of four books on American Baha’i history, one introductory textbook about the Faith, and of numerous articles on many Baha’i subjects. He has served on the Boards of the Association for Baha’i Studies, World Order magazine, and the Baha’i Encyclopedia project. He lives in South Bend, Indiana, with his wife and two children.